The ability to develop these newly accessible natural gas resources drastically reduces America’s dependence on foreign fuel imports.

According to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2011 Annual Energy Outlook, the United States has 2,632 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas reserves.   According to the same report, U.S. shale gas production “grew at an average annual rate of 17 percent between 2000 and 2006,” but, because of the “combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies,” there was an “average annual growth rate of 48 percent over the 2006-2010 period.”[i] 

Additionally, shale gas production will continue “to increase strongly through 2035,” growing “almost fourfold from 2009 to 2035.”  Total domestic natural gas production will grow from 21 tcf in 2009 to 26.3 tcf in 2035.   Meanwhile, shale gas production increases to 12.2 tcf in 2035, at which time it will account for nearly half (47%) of total U.S. production, a significant increase from the 2009 figure of 16%.[ii]  However, without hydraulic fracturing, we could see a 45% reduction in domestic natural gas production by 2014.[iii]

It is vital that we maintain a domestic energy policy that encourages domestic natural gas production and energy independence.

“Abundant, recoverable natural gas resources exist within our borders, both onshore and offshore, in all types of reservoirs.

 “Our knowledge of the geological endowment of technically recoverable gas continues to improve with each assessment. Furthermore, new and advanced exploration, well drilling and completion technologies are allowing us increasingly better access to domestic gas resources—especially ‘unconventional’ gas—which, not all that long ago, were considered impractical or uneconomical to pursue.

“Consequently, our present assessment demonstrates an exceptionally strong and optimistic gas supply picture for the nation.”[iv]

Dr. John B. Curtis, Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines and Director of the Potential Gas Agency